Statements are presented which were made at this hearing to amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for the compensation of children and others who have sustained vaccine-related injury. While the hearing focused on the costs and the regulatory burden that might be imposed by the legislation, the following areas were also addressed: (1) the general childhood immunization program; (2) the increasing costs of the vaccines; and (3) the findings of the Federal task force report on pertussis, the most controversial of the seven childhood vaccines. (JD)